It's All Brand New Because of You
by Trench
Summary: Leo is in theater club. Jason's on the football team; or at least, he tried to be. They meet at tryouts for Midsummer. (highschool au; Jason/Leo, background Piper/Leo, and Piper/Jason; basically, there is confusion about who likes who, but what kind of theater kid doesn't appreciate a healthy dose of drama?)
1. Chapter 1

**By now, I pretty much ship everybody with everybody, so this fic is kind of a reflection of that-aka, lots of love and woe, but it will all work out in the end.**

* * *

Piper tells him as they walk out of 5th, fingers toying with the edge of her collar, and that's how Leo knows it's a big thing, because Piper is the baddest bitch around and she never gets nervous, but Leo never expected this.

"Jason Grace asked you about auditions?" he repeats, halting abruptly in the hallway, a few underclassmen caught in his wake. "About our auditions?"

Piper shrugs, but she's still got a hand on her collar. "It's just, we have gym together, and I guess he didn't make it on the football team again—"

Leo interrupts. "He tried out this year too? He's awful, Piper, they'll never let him on."

"Yeah," Piper shrugs again. "Well, he told me he thought maybe they'd let him on this year because they felt bad, but they didn't, so he signed up for auditions."

And this is a whole different situation now because she had not mentioned the actual act of signing up for auditions, which is as permanent a commitment as anyone in theater can make, but sure enough when Leo drags Piper down to the auditorium, Jason Grace's name is written neatly in slot number seventeen on the sign-up sheet.

"Why is this happening," Leo says. "What is he doing."

Piper scoffs. "I don't know. Maybe he's actually interested in trying out for the play, Leo? God, you're so weird."

He's got a hunch that Piper has never truly forgiven him for dumping her four years ago because he'd realized he was gay, but their similar drive to achieve notoriety and avoid the general populace of high school has kept them too drawn together, and it's difficult to hate someone when you're so busy hating everybody else, so Piper is his sort-of-best-friend and they just let it sit like that. Still, though, she could be a little more supportive when the world as Leo knows it seems to be tipping on its axis. Jason Grace in theatre, god.

Annabeth, too, is disappointingly nonplussed by the whole situation when Leo recounts it to her at lunch, choosing to roll her eyes and continue eating her chicken wrap without much excitement, only offering a regurgitation of Piper's sassy response: "Maybe he's just exploring new opportunities, Leo. What are you freaking out about anyway?"

And the thing is that they're right, honestly; it's not as if auditioning for a school play is something so violently out of the question for anyone, it's just that it's Jason, and he's that guy, the one who always volunteers for everything and once kissed a donkey for charity and slums it with the cool kids like it's no big deal, and Leo's had a crush on him ever since he wore red sequined shorts in a pep assembly last year. He's tall and funny and happy, and people like him the way people like puppies—wholeheartedly and without question. But Jason Grace venturing into the theatrical realm, into Leo's realm, the proverbial D-List of the educational system, could mean so many things. Could mean possibilities that had previously never been more than a passing math class daydream for Leo.

It's just that he so desperately wishes for his life to be exciting and fun like the movies, and he thinks that maybe this break in the status quo could be just that. Jason, in all his towheaded glory, could be A Thing that shifts Leo's otherwise mediocre teenage existence into something big and fabulous and proportionate with the idea of youth that he has created in his mind.

It's difficult to explain that though, even to someone as supposedly philosophical and intelligent as Annabeth, so instead Louis sighs and launches into his well-known dissertation on the horrors of frozen cafeteria food, and Annabeth and Piper seem satisfied for the time being.

* * *

The way it plays out, anyhow, is that Leo waltzes into auditions fifteen minutes late with a thermos of hot chocolate and Piper trailing close behind him, marching all the way down the auditorium aisle to take his seat in the front center and plucking two scripts off the stage with a flourish while Mr. Brunner calls out, "Okay, Valdez, that's enough please," and Leo offers a small bow and sits. It's one of those drama club perks.

"Who're you trying out for again?" he asks Piper, not even bothering to whisper while some freshman stammers through Shakespeare onstage.

"Who do you think?" Piper rolls her eyes. "Hermia is the bitchy short one."

"It's almost like Brunner picked this play with us in mind," Leo muses, running his finger over the binding of the Midsummer script.

"Why? Because there's also a tiny gay fairy who jumps around annoying everyone?"

"You know what, fuck you."

"Valdez, don't make me tell you twice!"

Leo considers blaming Piper when Brunner flares up, but decides that's more trouble than it's worth and has just sunk back into his seat to read some of Puck's monologues when he feels a shift on his other side. Annabeth doesn't normally sit with them for auditions (she's "too cool" or whatever the tech crew thinks they are), so he turns with the intent of saying something mouthy and ends up slackjawed at what he sees instead.

"Hi," says Jason Grace, folding himself into the auditorium seat. "Um, I think I'm late."

Leo reaches blindly for Piper, finding her hand and squeezing it roughly in warning, to which she replies, "What, god damn it—oh."

"Hi Piper," Jason waves, which is—he waves, and Leo doesn't know what to say and he doesn't know why Jason is sitting with them and he just wants to feel cool for a moment so he turns to Jason and says, "I'm Leo," and Jason says, "Cool. I'm Jason," and holds out his hand to shake which Leo does, promptly.

"You, ah… you read Shakespeare much?" Leo asks tentatively. Jason shrugs, looking down at the script in his hands.

"Not much outside of Lit class. I've heard of this one though. "

A voice in Leo's head screams at the thought of walking into an audition so incredibly unread, but he stifles it and manages, "Lots of good guy parts in Midsummer."

"Which one do you want?"

"Puck," Leo says, taken aback by Jason's interest. "He's the—"

Piper swoops in, leaning across Leo's lap and smiling curtly at Jason. "He's the tiny gay fairy who jumps around annoying everyone."

Jason laughs, then clamps a hand over his mouth when he receives a disapproving stare from Brunner. Lowering his voice, he asks, "Who should I try out for?"

Piper glances down at her script. "Titania the Fairy Queen does make out with an ass at one point."

Jason's cheeks color. "Why does everyone still remember that? It was for charity."

"Relax," Leo says, pinching Piper on the thigh. She glares. "Just try out for Lysander, he's the least douchey guy in the play."

It's the last thing he thinks will happen: Jason Grace getting a role in their play. Leo knows Jason sucks at football and he's pretty darn sure that the earnest worry in Jason's eyes betrays his imminent theatre suckage as well. A pity, he thinks, because it was a worth a shot, might have gotten people to actually go to the play. Real people, people besides Leo's mom. But oh well. Leo doesn't think he could've handled Jason Grace running around in Lysander's tunic anyway.

* * *

Piper calls Leo five times early Saturday morning while he's half-asleep, and when he finally picks up she hisses, "I'm at the Cast List."

"You wench, you know I hate it when you—"

"Jason Grace is in the play," she says, "Jason Grace is Lysander."

"What on earth," Leo replies, sitting up in bed. "He's not."

But he is, and when Leo manages to shove a beanie on over his hair and drive on over to see the list himself, it's right in front of his face in bold print. Piper's Hermia, and he's gotten Puck himself, and then there's Jason, and he's Lysander.

Leo knows their theatre department is lacking in the male area, but he'd never thought Brunner would cast a novice in a lead role like this. Clearly he had underestimated their need for testosterone.

When he calls Annabeth, she just says, "Maybe he's actually good, Leo," in that annoying Annabeth way where she always has to be a step ahead on the moral high ground, and Leo answers, "Well, he isn't, and when you realize that too then I've got your word that you're buying me lunch next week," and Annabeth just sighs.

* * *

Monday is their first rehearsal, and they all sit in a circle onstage with their scripts and their highlighters. Jason sits by Leo and Piper again, buzzing with nervous energy, and Leo hasn't got the faintest idea what to do with him.

"I'm so excited," Jason tells him, chattering away, "I've never really done stuff like this before. You know, performing. I always tried to do something with sports but, uh, that never worked out."

"Welcome to the land of 'never worked out,'" Leo answers wryly, gesturing at the circle with a swoop of his hand. "These are your people."

Jason grins. "Cool."

They only do a read-through on the first day, like usual, and Leo has to remind himself not to scare the newbies with his enthusiasm (after all, Puck's been his dream role for years and everyone knows it was tailor-made for him, and, well, he's been working on his character quite a bit already). It's all well and good until he hears Jason read his first few lines, and his face lights up even more.

He texts Annabeth: _i like steak xx ;)_

Annabeth replies a few moments late: _not for lunch u little shit is he that bad?_

_checkmate._


	2. Chapter 2

**Leo and Piper are actually best friends in this fic and I think it's coming across like they aren't, so I just wanted to clarify that they definitely are, no matter how much they nag each other. Anyway, here's the next chapter, hope you like it!**

* * *

No one actually tells Jason that he's bad because he's sweet and he tries and sometimes when Mr. Brunner gives him notes he focuses so hard that his eyebrows knit together in this determined way, like he's really honestly going to figure out what "minimus" means, Shakespeare be damned. Leo likes this about him; it makes him laugh from offstage and Jason always smiles at his laughs, even when he's trying to be in character, and Leo thinks that might mean they're friends.

Sometimes they chat, little offhand comments thrown at each other in passing. Leo likes the way Jason's face brightens when he talks about things he loves, like football or his friends or his family, and he likes that he's just cheeky enough to pass for a theater kid, even though he's completely awful at acting. Jason seems to like Leo as a whole, and that in itself is enough to bring Leo a wild burst of joy each day when he wakes up remembering he has people to talk to other than Piper and Annabeth now. Not that he minds them; in fact, they are both quite likely his favorite people. But Leo Valdez was not born to have only two friends, this he is certain of.

He stays late after rehearsal one day because Piper gets stuck in an arduous conversation with the costume director and he's always her ride home, so while she works on sorting out dress options, Leo wanders into the scene shop where Annabeth is designing the sets. Annabeth's favorite thing to do is pretend she has no talent, and Leo's favorite thing to do is bother her with compliments, so it makes for a nice few minutes as Leo flips through sketch after marvelous sketch of backdrops that Annabeth's thought up.

"Oh, Annabeth," Leo says dramatically, holding the back of his hand to his forehead, "This one makes me swoon. Look at the coloring on those lilies—just superb!"

Annabeth snatches the drawing away from him, rolling her eyes even as she smiles. "They're daffodils, idiot. This is why actors don't do tech."

"Don't talk shit, you know I'd be a Grade A set designer." Leo crosses his arms. "Piper got me a Pinterest so I'm a regular design guru now."

Annabeth shakes her head, plucking the rest of the sketches from Leo's hands and putting them back on her workbench. "God, Leo. You _would_ have a Pinterest."

"What's that supposed to mean? There's loads of great tips on there. Did you know you can wash your hair with mayonnaise to increase the shine?"

Annabeth sighs, but Leo catches her touching the back of her hair gingerly and he throws his head back in laughter. "You've absolutely looked at the hair section, haven't you? Oh, Chase, you're too good."

Annabeth turns back to Leo, as if she were going to say something in her defense. But just as she opens her mouth, the door handle to the scene shop twists and a familiar voice trails in, slow and sweet: "…so if you guys ever decide to help out, then this is where they make all the props and backgrounds and stuff."

Jason Grace ambles in, hands shoved in the pockets of his too-baggy jeans, followed by none other than Percy Jackson and Frank Zhang. Percy and Frank, the captains of the football team. Percy and Frank, who are dressed in their uniforms and have clearly just finished practice, judging from how sweaty and dirty and roughed up they look. Percy and Frank, who are maybe the coolest people ever to have graced the scene shop. Leo glances over at Annabeth and can almost see her heart drop several floors.

"Oh," Jason says, stopping a few steps from the doorway. "Sorry, I didn't think anyone was still here."

"No problem," Leo says quickly, knowing that Annabeth (what with her secret desire to peruse among the elite) will need a bit of time to compose herself. "Just doing a bit of work with Annabeth here."

"Oh!" Jason says again, this time a bit more pronounced. "Frank and Percy, this is Leo and Annabeth. They're in the play with me. Well," he looks over Annabeth, brow furrowed, "Annabeth's not exactly, uh…"

"Annabeth's the Stage Manager," Leo supplies cheerfully. "Makes sure we all get our shit together."

"Yeah," Jason smiles. "And Leo, Annabeth, this is Percy and Frank. They're my best friends. I was just showing them around a little before we head out."

Frank grins, stepping further into the room and looking around at the tools and various props strewn about. "I'm just glad to see Jason's got something to do with himself this year."

Percy, who's got an athletic bag slung over his shoulder, follows after Frank slowly, like he's worried he needs an invitation to touch anything, but once Jason starts chattering they both seem to lighten up considerably.

"I used to work in a bakery," Jason announces, still smiling brightly at Leo. "I always told the manager she'd have to replace me if I got on the football team, but I'm pretty bad, so she never did. Gave her a shock when I finally told her I'd have to quit."

"Too bad it wasn't for the football team," Frank jokes, elbowing Jason. Leo watches their dynamic with awe. He has worshipped these boys quietly all his life, and now they are here. In his domain. Speaking with him. He feels as thought there should be some dramatic dubstep background song playing so as to capture the essence of the moment in distorted guitar solos and a dropped bass..

"Do you draw these?" Percy asks from behind Leo, and when Leo turns he sees that Percy is holding up Annabeth's set designs, and Annabeth is still perched at her workbench looking like she has never seen something so lovely as Percy Jackson Captain Of The Football Team holding her set designs.

"Annabeth draws them," Leo tells him, because he knows Annabeth sure as hell won't. "She does all our sets too; she's a real Leonardo DiCaprio."

Trust art to snap Annabeth out of her reverie, because she's quick to sigh loudly. "Leo, DiCaprio is the actor, not the painter."

Leo waves a hand dismissively. "Okay, whatever, he probably paints in his off hours. The compliment still stands." Frank laughs, the kind where you can't help but smile too, and soon they're all standing around smiling and Percy is still holding Annabeth's designs and telling her how good they are and Jason is beaming like a proud father.

Piper comes traipsing through the door a moment later, arms laden with fabric and ribbon and maybe some turf grass, it's hard for Leo to tell, but he knows by the drag in her step that it's time to leave. "It was great meeting you," he tells Percy and Frank, nodding at both of them as he slides down off Annabeth's desk. "My lady awaits."

"Help me carry this," Piper says, voice muffled by a large straw hat, the cherry on top of her costume room vomit. Leo grabs the hat, places it delicately on his own head, and waves back over his shoulder at the boys and Annabeth while he follows her outside.

"You're a little bitch, you know that?" Piper tells him once they're out in the open air. "Flirting should not be a higher priority than the future health of my aching back."

"Don't worry," Leo informs her sweetly, "your back will be straight as a rod if you keep the stick up your ass."


	3. Chapter 3

Things don't get unnaturally weird until Tuesday, when Leo is sitting quite happily at his lunch table with Piper and Annabeth, munching away at Piper's chips and listening to them both drone on about some boring AP Lit assignment he doesn't have. They're so obnoxious, in fact, that mid-crunch he declares, "Annabeth's got a thing for football players," just to lighten the mood a bit.

Annabeth turns to glare at him defensively. "Do not."

"Do too." Leo pokes her in the nose with a finger. "You couldn't even speak yesterday when we met Jason's friends."

"You met Jason's friends?" Piper chirps, looking at Annabeth gleefully. "Were they hot? Did Annabeth cry?"

Annabeth buries her face in her hands and groans loudly, but Leo has already scooted closer to Piper in order to engage in dramatic gossip about Annabeth's wide-eyed stares at Percy Jackson, and he's so engrossed in her snorting laughter that he barely registers the voice from behind him saying, "Anyone sitting here?"

Annabeth lifts her head just as Leo turns, looking up to meet the eyes of Jason Grace, who for some reason would like to know if anyone is sitting in the vacant seat next to Leo.

"No," Piper answers, her smile sticky-sweet, before Leo can open his mouth. "Feel free."

And then suddenly Jason is sliding in, dropping his lunch down on the table and grinning happily at them all. Before Annabeth can even truly compose her look of confusion, none other than Percy and Frank of scene shop fame slide in to occupy both the empty seats on her side of the table.

"Hey!" Frank greets them cheerfully, pulling a McDonalds bag out of his backpack and unloading it. "How's the weather over here?"

Leo doesn't understand what's funny, but Frank cracks up at his own joke and elbows Annabeth like she's in on it, so Annabeth laughs along too, albeit with a look of mild confusion. When Frank's finished his bout of laughter, he leans back, stretches, remarks, "This is my favorite time of the day," and starts in on his food.

He's eating four cheeseburgers, Leo notices. Four.

Leo, Piper, and Annabeth exchange glances. No one appears to have any more idea than the other what is going on or why the cool kids have deigned to relocate to them for lunch, but it appears that at this point the only thing they can do is try to appreciate the situation.

"How was your last game?" Annabeth asks, the first one of their trio to speak. Leo looks at her quizzically, but Percy brightens at the question, setting down his peanut butter sandwich to answer.

"It was brilliant," he says, smiling, "We were down by two at the first half and I thought there was no way we could pull through—the team's a lot better than us, honestly, and we hadn't been doing so well since we had to bench Travis—but then it was like wildfire once we came back onto the field and we pulled ahead to win. Crazy, isn't that? Three goals in a half? Best game of the year so far."

"I usually go to the home ones," Annabeth offers, smiling back at Percy, her food forgotten. "You guys were great last week, especially Frank in the end zone."

Frank takes a mock bow, mouth still full of cheeseburger, and Leo turns to whisper to Piper. "I didn't know Annabeth went to the matches."

Piper shrugs. "Who knows what Annabeth does, honestly." Which, well, is the truth.

Leo leaves them to their chatter and reaches over to eat one of Piper's apple slices. He's still flabbergasted by the thought that Jason Grace thinks they are friends, that Jason Grace has invited his actual real friends to sit with them because they _are_ all friends. Somewhere in the spectrum between Piper and Annabeth, Leo had no idea he had been missing out on this kind of social environment.

"What are you doing this weekend?" Frank asks him, like it's completely casual, no big deal. "You guys should come to this party we're going to in the next town over. It's going to be sick."

Percy rolls his eyes. "More like you're going to be sick."

Frank laughs again, one of those full-body laughs that launches Leo into an involuntary smile, which somehow triggers Frank to reach over to him for a high five. Although Leo has no idea why it's happening, he obliges Frank with a quick smack and Frank grins, nodding at him before going back for the third cheeseburger.

"Seriously," he says around his food, "You guys should come. The more the merrier."

"Pipes and I will be there," Leo says, before the glow of the high five can wear down and cause Frank to realize he is inviting the pond scum of high school to a party with him. "I don't know about Annabeth, she's into artsy shit, might be going to a museum or something."

Annabeth lets out a long, drawn-out sigh, but Percy interjects. "You go to museums? That's so interesting," and suddenly Annabeth is lost again in wonderland. Frank reaches across for more high fives, jovially cheering something unintelligible, perhaps along the lines of 'boo yah.' Leo can't be quite sure through all the fries he's got in there.

Jason smiles. "I'm really glad you're going," he tells Leo, "It'll be fun to have you there."

And if ever there were a chance in hell Leo would miss this party, the sincerity in Jason's tone has erased it.

* * *

Rehearsal that day is made only slightly less weird by the fact that, when it runs long (as rehearsal inevitably will), Frank and Percy end up coming over to watch after practice. They stay under the guise of taking Jason home, but Leo knows for a fact that Jason has his own car (not that he's a creep, he just… notices), and Percy in particular is decidedly too intrigued by Annabeth showing him the rigging to be innocent in his intentions.

Leo quite likes the attention, though, and he can't help but wonder why Jason Grace was never invited to join the theater department in the first place if this is how the gig spruced up upon his arrival. There's something oddly thrilling about knowing people are talking about you, are wondering how you've managed to capture the notice of the elite, and Leo takes a small pride in shooing the underclassmen away from his props backstage, remarking loudly, "I only do autographs after a performance, darlings."

Jason laughs at him from aside, script rolled up in his hands. "You'll crease it if you hold it like that," Leo tells him, swatting his shoulder with his own rolled up script as he walks by. "Shouldn't be creasing if you're a novice."

"Do novices still get autographs though?" Jason teases, catching Leo off-guard. He turns, surveying Jason approvingly while he searches for a witty response.

"Novices can get autographs," he says, "Novices could even be deigned the honor of a photograph, provided such novices bribe the star with flattery and gifts."

Jason laughs again, and Leo thinks he would like to spend more time making Jason laugh. "I'll keep that in mind, then."

As he prances off the stage, Leo runs straight into Piper, who grabs him by the elbow and pulls him against a curtain, eyes alight. "Are you seriously flirting with Jason Grace?"

"No?" Leo says, giving her a skeptical look. "Please release me."

"You're totally flirting with him." Piper raises her eyebrows. "You're doing that thing with your eyebrows."

"What thing with my eyebrows? What about your eyebrows?" Leo reaches a hand up to touch his forehead. "I do not have a thing."

"That thing!" Piper hisses. "That eyebrow thing you do when you're flirting that you think makes you look more seductive. Don't think I don't see you, Valdez. You are wandering into uncharted waters."

She stalks off, shoulders straight, and Leo watches her, perplexed and just a bit flabbergasted. "I literally have no idea what you mean!" he calls after her, hands cupped around his mouth. She ignores him.

And that—well. So what if he is? A bit of harmless banter with Jason can't hurt, and if perhaps he plays for the right team (alas, not the football team, but Leo can still dream), then flirting can only serve to launch Leo further towards having his long-awaited High School Musical-esque romantic adventure. Otherwise, Jason would totally think it was bro stuff. No big deal.

Jason walks by in the midst of Leo's contemplation, smacking him on the ass as he passes and offering nothing but a grin and a thumbs up at Leo's answering look of shocked indignation.

Which. Bro stuff. Yeah.

* * *

At lunch the next day, Jason is a few minutes later than the rest of his friends to join them. When he finally arrives, he's got two lunch trays with him, one of which he sets down firmly in front of Leo. Leo looks up at him, puzzled, and Jason just says, "I like your shirt. Do I get a picture now?"

Leo grins, tilting his head to the side. "Perhaps a step up from novice."

Jason looks so pleased at this that Leo actually can't think of anything else to say on the matter, and they both continue about with lunch as usual. Thankfully, Annabeth only eyes Leo warily for a few seconds before diving back into her conversation with Percy.

Leo's phone vibrates in his pocket a moment later. It's Piper: _Is this part of your mating ritual then?_

_Go eat your salad,_ Leo texts back.

Jason pokes his shoulder and Leo turns to look at him. "What?" he says, after a couple seconds where Jason just stares. He can feel Piper's smirk from across the table.

"Oh," Jason says, offering a sheepish smile. "I like your shoes."

Leo's face probably strongly resembles a lobster, but he tries to keep his cool no matter how adorable Jason's cow eyes are. "You're still basically a novice, sorry."

Jason shrugs. "I'll work on it."

Piper's text rings in Leo's hand a moment later:

_You're so whipped lol_


End file.
